No. 123.] 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. 



37 



These boys earned $140,000 and added approximately 

 $640,000 to the farm crops this year. 

 Camps were operated as below : — 



Location. 



Number 

 of Boys. 



Super- 

 visors. 



Boys' 

 Gross Earn- 

 ings. 



Camp Ex- 

 penses. 



Bovs' 

 Net Earn- 

 ings. 



Feeding Hills, 

 Whately, 

 Southwick, . 

 Hatfield, 



100 



215 



515,618 65 

 3,373 66 

 4,442 86 

 12,764 98 



836,200 15 



S5,560 84 

 1,194 50 

 1,635 26 

 3,935 00 



812,325 60 



810,057 81 



2,179 16 



2,807 60 



8,829 98 



S23,874 55 



With an earlier start next spring more camps could be estab- 

 lished, and doubtless 1,000 boys could be sent from the city high 

 schools to Massachusetts farms. 



I believe that this work should not only be continued, but 

 should be liberally supported by the Legislature. It is not 

 only of great benefit to the boys themselves, but to the farm- 

 ers who employ them, and it is tending to induce a consider- 

 able number of city boys to make farming their life work. 



Agricultural Information. 

 A large part of the work of the Division of Information has 

 consisted in supplying material on various agricultural sub- 

 jects to persons who requested such information, either on 

 personal visits to the office or by letter. At the beginning of 

 the year the Department had on hand a large supply of some 

 bulletins and circulars previously prepared, but other publi- 

 cations which had had a considerable circulation were out of 

 print and unavailable. It soon became evident that many of 

 the Department's former publications, including some still on 

 hand and others which were out of print, were no longer in 

 demand and it therefore became necessary to dispose of those 

 which remained either by distribution or otherwise. A con- 

 siderable number were distributed at agricultural exhibitions, 

 especially at the Eastern States Exposition at Springfield and 

 at the Brockton Fair, and others were turned over to the 

 superintendent of buildings to be sold as waste paper. 



